Council Speaker Corey Johnson (center) meets with Council member Chaim Deutsch (second from right) of Flatbush and Jewish community leaders at the home of Josh Mehlman (third from left), the chairman of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition. (Photo courtesy of Office of City Councilman Chaim Deutsch via The Forward)

With new leadership in the City Council and new members in influential positions, the Forward’s Josh Nathan-Kazis looks at whether the reshuffling of seats once held by Jewish lawmakers means less influence and leverage for the community in the next four years.

One “communal insider,” for example, says “yeshivas definitely need to be concerned” as two of the Council’s leaders, Speaker Corey Johnson and Finance Committee Chair Daniel Dromm, oppose programs that give funding to the schools.

Then there’s the Jewish social service organizations, some of whom…

…rely on the City Council for funding through member-driven discretionary grants, in which the interests of the council’s leadership influences disbursement. The speaker and his allies also decide which bills make their way to a vote.

Brad Lander of Park Slope, David Greenfield of Boro Park and Mark Levine of Upper Manhattan are among the Council members who will no longer have influential positions. Lander had been “the body’s kingmaker” while Greenfield led the Committee on Land Use.

Now, following a round of elections and a contentious battle for the role of speaker, Greenfield has left his seat to lead a Jewish social service agency, while Lander’s influence appears to be much diminished. Lander and Kalman Yeger, Greenfield’s replacement, were among the few council members not to receive committee chairmanships, though Lander remains the council’s deputy leader for policy. Meanwhile, Mark Levine, who represents parts of Upper Manhattan, will now be replaced as head of the body’s Jewish Caucus by Chaim Deutsch, a conservative Democrat from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.

This change in the Jewish Caucus has some in the community concerned. Go to the Forward to find out why, as well as remarks from Jewish insiders and leaders who, on the other hand, have full confidence in Corey Johnson and see fresh opportunities under the new City Council.

As the White House urged Congress to withhold $600 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, officials responded angrily that this is only the latest in a series of President Trump’s attempts to stop the flow of federal aid to the island, El Nuevo Día reports. Political analyst Domingo Emanuelli found the Trump government's actions “barbaric,” and urged Puerto Rican Republicans to reconsider their allegiance. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said: “I shouted against Trump’s abuses from the start while others were chummy with him. Trump is not the plantation owner and we are not his slaves.” Link to original story →

The Indigenous Peoples March being held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, a day ahead of the Women's March, will bring together groups from Puerto Rico to South America and Central America, reports Remezcla, to focus attention on issues from voter suppression to human trafficking to police brutality to what is called an “environmental holocaust” by activists. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time,” says Nathalie Farfan, an Ecuadorean Indigenous woman and event organizer. Link to original story →

After vowing to create a more inclusive school system in North Carolina, the Durham Board of Education introduced a new department of second language services to serve newly-arrived immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. One of the main goals of the initiative will be to coordinate a translation and interpretation system to help families participate in their children’s education. “As our Latinx population keeps growing we keep opening our schools’ doors to those arriving from all over the world,” said Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. Link to original story →

With Sen. Kamala Harris expected to announce her decision on a presidential run, The American Bazaar asks members of the Indian-American community about the potential candidacy of the California native. While some celebrated the possibility of Harris, who is of Jamaican-Indian descent, running amid the current political atmosphere, others say the country is "still not ready for a female president and certainly not a non-white." Link to original story →